Contras Agree to Disband : Accord Ends Standoff in Nicaragua

The Sandinista government and the U.S.-backed rebels signed a cease-fire agreement early today that calls on the Contras to begin laying down their arms next week and to disband by June 10.

The cease-fire, which began at noon today, will be verified by U.N. forces and Nicaraguan Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo.

The document was signed by Nicaragua’s minister of defense, Gen. Humberto Ortega, rebel commanders Oscar Sovalbarro and Aquilino Ruiz Robleto, and representatives of President-elect Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.

“With this accord we conclude the peace process started with the elections,” said Antonio Lacayo, chief of the Chamorro transition team.

The Yatama Miskito Indian group fighting alongside the Contras on the Atlantic coast reached a separate but similar disarmament agreement that establishes a cease-fire in the eastern half of the country at midnight today.

The accords appeared to end a tense standoff among the Sandinista government, Chamorro’s incoming administration and the Contras that had threatened to derail the transfer of power in Nicaragua.

The signing came after lengthy negotiations, including an all-night session that ended this morning. The talks began Tuesday.

The agreement says the rebel forces should begin disarming next Wednesday, the day the Chamorro government is inaugurated. Demobilization of the Contra forces is to be completed by June 10.

The leftist Sandinistas had demanded that the Contras disarm before they handed power to the new civilian government. But Gen. Ortega said today that it was more important that peace be reached “as soon as possible.”

“We all made an effort so that it (the dismantling) would have been on the 25th,” but “technical hurdles” made that impossible, Gen. Ortega said.

Rebel commander Sovalbarro said, “Let it be clear that what has been signed here is something serious, something formal, and I think we all have the good will to fulfill this signed document.”

When he was asked about the rebels’ earlier demand that the Sandinista army be dismantled or restructured before the Contras disarmed, Sovalbarro replied curtly: “That is a subject belonging to the new government.”

The accord says the Contras’ weapons will be surrendered in the presence of U.N. forces and Obando y Bravo.

It also establishes security zones for the rebels inside Nicaragua so they can begin regrouping immediately in preparation for demobilization and disarmament. During the decade-long war between the Contras and the Sandinista government, many of the Contras were based in Honduras.

Under the accord, Sandinista forces are to start withdrawing immediately from the five security zones and complete the withdrawal by Saturday. The Sandinista forces are required to stay at least 12 miles from the zones.

The talks were the first involving the coalition backing Chamorro, known as UNO, the Contras and the Sandinistas since Chamorro’s 14-party coalition defeated the Sandinistas in Feb. 25 elections.

Washington backed the Contras in their nine-year war with the Sandinistas but supported Chamorro’s call for their dissolution.